Men's Lacrosse advances in OAC Tournament with 21-10 quarterfinal victory over Otterbein

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's lacrosse team advanced in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a 21-10 quarterfinal victory over Otterbein on a warm and windy Saturday afternoon at Dial-Roberson Stadium.

| OAC Tournament Site |

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (13-5 overall), Otterbein (8-8 overall).
• Venue: Dial-Roberson Stadium - Ada, Ohio.

The Game

• Senior Aidan Dempsey (Silver Spring, Md./St. John's College) had a 5-goal hat trick and added an assist for a team-high 6 points on the day.
• He became just the third Polar Bear in school history to join the 100-Goal Club with 103 in his career.
• Freshman Mitchel Luck (Linden, Mich.) had a 3-goal hat trick for ONU.
• Otterbein scored just four seconds into the contest and led 2-0 just 59 seconds in.
• The Cardinal lead was 5-2 after the first period.
• But the Polar Bears came storming back, scoring the first eight goals of the second quarter to grab a 10-5 lead.
• Northern was in control from there, leading 12-6 at halftime and 16-8 after three periods.
• The Polar Bears had 12 different players score in the game.
• Fifth-year senior Cole Zaferakis (Liverpool, N.Y.) had 11 saves in 57:28 in goal to earn his school-record 13th victory of the season.
• Ohio Northern out-shot OU 41-35 and won the turnover battle 31-18.

Notables

• The Polar Bears were the No. 4 seed in the 6-team OAC Tournament and Otterbein was the fifth seed.
• Northern has now reached the semifinals in five consecutive OAC Tournaments and is 5-1 in quarterfinal games in program history.
• ONU clinched a spot in the 6-team OAC Tournament for the sixth consecutive season.
• Dempsey now ranks fifth all-time in ONU history with 143 points in his career. He ranks third with 103 career goals and is fifth with 41 assists.
• He also leads the team in scoring this season with 46 goals, 13 assists and 58 points.
• In all, 26 different Polar Bears have scored goals this season with five more adding at least one assist.
• Senior Chad Calderwood (Portland, Ore./Episcopal) went 8-for-19 on faceoffs on the day, extending his school record to 423 for his career. 
• Senior Sebastian Michaud (Springboro) had one goal and is now sixth at ONU with 73 career goals, is seventh with 31 assists and has 104 career points.
• Fifth-year senior Riley O'Neal (Dumfries, Va./Forest Park) is sixth with 40 career assists.
• Zaferakis holds the ONU career records for saves (583), wins (49) and goalie minutes played (3,730).
• Ohio Northern is now 8-3 all-time against Otterbein, including a 6-1 record at Dial-Roberson Stadium.
• Head coach Nat St.Laurent is in his ninth season at Ohio Northern with a 92-47 record and has a winning percentage of .662.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will travel to top-seeded John Carroll on Wednesday night at 7 pm for a semifinal contest in the OAC Tournament at Don Shula Stadium.